In this verson we improved interaction with FTP. In earlier version all ftp settings are stored in a backup profile. Now the settings of each FTP site are stored in a separate config file FTPL.xml.
For example, if you operates with one ftp via several backup profiles and want to change ftp password then, now it's not necessary to edit each backup profile. Instead you change ftp settings once, and all settings are propogated to all backup profiles automatically.

In earlier versions there were bugs in the backup scheduler. The scheduler could hardly launch tasks under the specified user's account because this account required special privilegies. Now this bug have been fixed, and requirements to privileges are lowered. This improvement essentially simplifies configuring the scheduler to start up tasks under usual user's account. The program was tested under Windows XP,2003,VISTA systems.

In this version the backup scheduler have been improved.

In earlier versions the scheduler couldn't be installed in Vista. Now the program became Vista compatible, and the scheduler can be installed properly in Vista environment. You can install the schedule as a service or as background task - both variants are tested and working fine in Vista.
One thing is not resolved in this release yet. We were compelled to build the jobs manager program (scheduler.exe) as a program with system privileges. It means that if you start up scheduler.exe to manage your backup tasks and Vista's UAC is ON then you need to confirm launching of the program. We know this is not convenient, and hope to fix the problem in the following releases.

Imagine you Insert an USB flash drive into computer and the program Back up your files automatically, without any clicks or keystrokes.

Need a solution to this? - Get an answer here!

In this version we have added a new feature to backup scheduler. Now the program can automatic launch backup job when you insert removable media. Due to this feature you can schedule backing up on inserting UBS Flash Drive or on inserting DVD.

Moreover, the scheduler can permit or decline start up backups in dependence of the media volume label you've inserted. This enables you to link start up of a job with inserting of related media.

One-click solution to back up your data

I think you have explored D_back and already created your first backup profile - it's easy, moreover, there are a lot of ready-to-use good examples which are delivered with the program.
Next it's necessary to provide an easy way to launch your backup job. In this article we'll show how you can start up backing up in one-click:

Launch backup manager (d_backm.exe) and open the backup profile you want to execute in one-click; Choose menu->File->Create Shortcut:

This will create a shortcut to the backup profile on your desktop and you'll receive a confirmation message about that. That's all you need to do. Now, to start backing up you need to double-click on the shortcut only - the program will load profile and begin to back up immediately without your assistance. You can monitor backup activities while and after processing, because the program's window with backup log remains visible, until you close it yourself.

How it Works

If you open the shortcut's properties you can notice that the command for launching profile is:

"C:\Program Files\D_back\d_backm.exe" test.bks -run

Pay attention on -run switch in the command. This switch forces backup manager to execute backup job immediately after opening backup profile .

In this version a new feature of saving backups have been added. Now in addition to a primary backup directory you can configure saving backups to one or more secondary directories. Due to this improvement you can save the same backup to several directories in one backup job.

This feature highly increases the safety of your data, because now you can back up to different locations by one backup profile. For example you can select secondary directories on HDD, USB flash drive or on network resource simultaneously.

The copying backups to a secondary location is performed quite cautiously. If any secondary directory is not accessible (for any reason) then the program does not break execution. Instead d_back generates a warning message and continue backing up.

USB Flash drives (USB memory sticks) are small and lightweight removable devices connected to your computer via a USB port. The combination of high capacity, low cost, and ease of using has increased popularity of this devices for temporary saving files and exchanging data between PC.

In this article we'll review an example of using D_back software - how you can use USB flash drive as a storage device to back up your files. D_back distribution kit contains a good example of ready-to-use backup profile which is configured to back up user's Documents directory to USB Flash Drive. This example is ready-to-use and independent of your system environment and usb drive letter. You don't need to do any changes, only execute it and explore results:

• Insert USB memory stick;
• Launch backup manager (D_backm.exe);
• Press Open button on toolbar and select profile "My_documents_to_flash.bks";
• Press Back Up button - that will open the backup sheet. On this sheet press "Run Job" button. That's all, the program will perform backup job automatically without your assistance.

The processing protocol is displayed in the bottom part of the window. Your documents directory (usually this is c:\Documents and settings\usename\My Documents) is backed up to your Flash drive to directory \Backup. The program creates backup in a file My documents-1.zip. Pay attention, that this example is not linked to location of your documents directory and independent of the USB flash drive letter, mapped by system.

How to setup USB flash drive as backup storage wihout linking to drive letter

Open Config menu and navigate to General sheet:

You see, that Primary Backup directory (the directory where the program should locate backup) is {Flash}\Backup. Here {Flash} is a Macro. The program finds the drive letter, assigned to USB and replaces the macro {Flash} by this letter on data processing.

An universal way to specify the user's documents directory

Navigate to the Files sheet. Here you creates a list of files or directories to be backed up. Double click on a single file path {My Documents} in the paths table, that will open the path's property editor:

You see, that the user's documents directory is also specified as macro {My_Documents}. This macro will be substituted at execution by the path which depends on the user who has launched the program.

In this version we've optimized the download from FTP algorithm. Improved algorithm downloads files faster, especially, if the program downloads many small files. Diagnostic messages which are generated while downloading is made clear and simple.
Some insignificant bugs were fixed in the backup manager. Now you can create primary backup directory and temporary directory from the select directory dialog - in earlier versions it was impossible.

In this version we have improved the realization of macros in backup profile. Now you can use macro fields in in the majority of config settings such as Primary Backup Directory, Backup Name, File Path, FTP Path, OS Commands, SUBJ, BODY. Pay attention, that now you can use macro names in paths (File Path and FTP path), this was impossible in the previous version. We have expanded a list of standard macros, and have included into it windows standard folders such as Program Files, My Documents ..etc., flash drives, envoronment variables. In the new version you can implement environment variables into backup parameters as a macro, and you can specify removable usb drive as macro without any binding to the usb drive letter. Moreover you can create your own macros.

Due to this improvement you can create backup profiles which are maximum independent of you PC configuration. We have expanded a set of examples by new ready-to-use backup profiles with macros. All examples are included into distribution kit and documented in .chm help file.

Excellent html help with a lot of graphics. We have included 11 examples of backup profiles into distribution kit. In this examples we try to demonstrate the main features of the program. We hope this will help new users to explore the program more quick and with the minimal efforts.

In this version we have improved the backup scheduler. Now you can invoke backup manager from Jobs Manager. This will help you to edit and explore backup profile directly from the Jobs Manager program.

In this version we have improved the backup scheduler. When you try to launch the jobs manager and the scheduler service is not installed then the program offers you to install the service.

In this version we have redesigned the interface of the backup manager. The new interface became easier and more clearly. The new backup manager is fully compatible with the earlier developed backup profiles.

All earlier versions of the program require to run under the user with administrative privileges. Earlier the program stored all settings, log files in the directory where it were installed (Program Files). This is not good for providing access security to the computer. Moreover to get best compatibility with the new OS Windows Vista the application should avoid to get full access to Program Files directory and registry key [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE]. We improved the new version according to the prescribed guidelines found in the Windows Vista and Windows Server Codename "Longhorn" LOGO programs and user experience (UX) guidelines documentation. Now the new version can work under usual user account without demanding administrative privileges. All settings are saved in folders, accessible to all users C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data and registry [HKEY_CURRENT_USER]..

The new global parameter Backup Profiles Directory was added to the Misc Config sheet. This parameter defines the directory for saving your backup profiles (.bks files). We recommend to save profiles in a single directory, accessible for all users. Backup Profiles Directory is used by the command-line utility. If you launchs d_back.exe and specifies backup profile (.bks) without path, then the program tries to search .bks file in your current directory at first, and if it is not found then d_back searchs the file in your Backup Profiles Directory.

Some changes were made in backup scheduler. In earlier version Jobs Manager shows the lastest part of large log file with delays. Now this problem have been fixed.

The ability of saving ftp passwords in backup profile without ciphering was added.

Some changes were made in FTP engine. The FTP upload algorithm have been improved. Now the program try to fix timeout errors on unstable TCP connections. Backup scheduler was changed. In earlier version sometimes you couldn't abort an active job. In this version this bug have been fixed. Format of scheduler logging files have been changed.

In this version PKZip's Zip64 support has been added. This means that the limitations on maximum zip file size (4Gb) and limitation on max. quantity of files in zip (65535) which were actual in the previous versions are are not exist now. You can compress up to 2 147 483 647 files into an archive. Uncompressed, Compressed, and Archive file sizes can be up to 2^63-1 bytes in length (at about 18 million terabytes). If a zip file does not extend beyond any of the PKZIP 2.04g limitations (4Gb / 65535 files) then the archive is created in old zip format, according to the PKZIP 2.04g zip file specification.

This version is based on the new version of backup profile. Backup manager converts old backup profiles to the new version automatically. The new backup profile is a file in XML format, UTF-8 encoding. The extension remained the same as in the old version - .bks The new profile is much more flexible than the old one. The security is highly increased in the new profile. The ftp - access passwords, compression passwords are saved in the new profile as encrypted data.

Backup logging have been improved in this version. Now the program creates a separated log file for each backing up. You can customize the logging settings for each backup profile individually. You can choose from brief or detailed log type according to your desire.

The opportunities of e-mail notifications have been expanded. Now you can select the type of the notify message from Brief, Full or Detailed.

Some bugs of the previous version have been fixed. Backup to FTP algorithm, have been improved. Now the resuming of broken uploads to FTP is made more reliably. The bugs were fixed in zip slicing algorithm.

Some bugs have been fixed in this version. Backup to FTP algorithm have been improved. Now the resuming of broken FTP uploads is made more reliably. This feature have been retested on the unreliable connections.

A new rule of naming backup objects are implemented in this version. This naming rule differs from the naming rule implemented in the previous versions of D_back. Now the name of every backup object (file or directory) consists of two parts - a backup name and a serial number delimited from each other with '-' (dash symbol). The numeration of backup objects is started from 1. The program assigns the new sequent number N for each newly created backup object automatically.

A new data restoring strategy is implemented in this version. The new restore sheet allows you easily to restore data from the previously made backup. The restoring process is separated into two steps - creating and testing restoring plan and actually restoring. Being once created the restore plan is saved by the program, so you should not worry to lose the earlier prepared plan - you can always invoke it for editing.

The new version of D_back 1.57 (Backup software for every computer) now is available for download on http://www.backupforall.com. We improved FTP download algorithm. Now the program correctly download files from FTP directories, which are symbolic links of Unix file system. Some errors were fixed in CD / DVD burning engine. CD / DVD verify feature have been added. This feature allows you to verify burned files to ensure successful burning.

The new version of D_back 1.57.3 (Backup software for every computer) now is available for free download on http://www.backupforall.com. We improved backup scheduler, some errors were fixed in the sched_srv service. Now this service operates more stable. CD / DVD burning engine: wrong free space on DWD+RW was shown in the earlier version. This bug have been fixed.

Diagnostics messages on error of file or directory creation now are extended with the system messages. The ability of installation of the scheduler service as background task was added for Windows XP system. Some bugs was fixed in scheduler and scheduler service. Sometimes the scheduler can't connect to the scheduler service even the service was running. This bug was fixed.

Some changes were made on the scheduler components. On Windows XP system the backup scheduler service now can be installed as a standard NT service or as an "auto-started background task after user log on". Now Jobs Manager shows the stdout of active tasks dynamically. This feature allows you to view the standard output stream of background task in real-time mode. Now Jobs Manager allow you to abort an active background job at any time by pressing the "Abort Button" on the main taskbar.

Multilanguage interface have been added. All D_back interface text and diagnostic messages are located now in a singe text file - messages_d.ini. You can take part in development of a product by translation this file to your language. In future we plan to place all persons who help to translate this file at the special thanks page of our product.

In this version we considerably improved files selection features. Now each backup item (file path or FTP path) can own included and excluded files list. This feature allows you to select files to be included into backup much more flexibly. This version of D_back is based on new version of backup profile. Backup manager converts old backup profiles to the new version automatically.

Now D_back allows you to locate additional ftp - specific settings directly on the FTP hosts. This settings are intended to perform additional control of downloading / uploading operations from the FTP server side.

In this version we have simplified the files filtering algorithm managed via included and excluded files lists. Now if any item of included or excluded lists contains a file mask without a path name, then the file name for matching will be used without the file path. This rule essentially simplifies preparation of the included and excluded masks lists. For example to select any *.doc files from all paths in the previous version you must specify a mask *\*.doc, and in the current version *.doc. As you can see the second rule is much easier and more clearly. Some changes were made in the ftp upload algorithm. Now the program tries to reconnect to ftp and resume uploading when transferring is interrupted by any reasons.